This device can be used to monitor the temperature of cooling circuits or of liquid baths in industrial processes.
In electrolysis cells, used for producing or recouping metals such as Cu, Zn, Ni and other non-ferro metals there often occurs an irregular, nodule shaped growth on the cathodes, leading to short circuiting in the device. A short circuit results in very high currents with a loss of efficiency, temperature rise of the contact rods and the electrolyte, the deposition of impurities on the cathode and the escape of poisonous elements such as arsenic, while a high temperature brings about an increased danger of fire of the isolation material and the ventilation devices. It is therefore of the utmost importance to signal short circuited electrodes as quickly as possible. In practice in plants having a great number of electrodes, some 10 to 15% of them show some sort of short circuiting each week.
To limit the risk of serious short circuits it is known to monitor the temperature continuously at a distance; e.g. infrared temperature monitoring is very useful.
Such a system, however, is very costly and the results are evaluated by a central unit and must be analysed to localize the position of faults. When for some reason the central unit of this system fails or is not working correctly a whole production unit will be unmonitored.